Seals, pipes, joints, membranes, filters, mastics, O rings, cables and sheaths are excellent at keeping liquids out. Sadly many of the vapours commonly used in vehicles often pass straight through them. Electronics can deteriorate, components rust, products rot – in fact cars, planes and even rockets have failed, simply because many materials don’t keep vapour in or out.

Versaperm Limited, a world leader in measuring and testing vapour permeability, has launched a new way to measure this easily, quickly and accurately for a wide range of hydrocarbon-based, (and other) gases including petrol, diesel, hydraulic fluids, refrigerants and water vapour.

The new MK VI meter gives results that are as accurate as a few parts per hundred million for some gases. The permeability of some materials can be obtained in as little as 30 minutes whereas conventional gravimetric testing takes several days for a single measurement.

The meter’s highly automated computerised control makes it easy to use, requiring at most a few minutes training, even to cope with several samples at a time. Sensitivities is high and naturally dependent on the specific vapour under test.

As well as instrument sales the company also offers a comprehensive permeability laboratory testing service.